Nigerian author Chinua Achebe is considered one of the world’s greatest storytellers. Achebe’s first book, Things Fall Apart, was released in 1958 and is considered to be one of Africa’s finest pieces of literature. And on Thursday, what would have been his 87th birthday, Google Doodle honored him.

“One man took it upon himself to tell the world the story of Nigeria through the eyes of its own people,” Google said. “Chinua Achebe (born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe) was the studious son of an evangelical priest. A student of English literature, he started writing in the 1950s, choosing English as his medium but weaving the storytelling tradition of the Igbo people into his books.”